LITMIR.BIZ

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along the beach. Gareth knew that nobody had rented either house for August, a notoriously hot and sticky month around here.

      Yeah, I’ll bet that’s who it is, Gareth thought as he crossed the porch.

      Amos often stopped by like that to bitch and moan about things in general, and Gareth was glad to chime in with grumbling of his own. He supposed maybe he and Amos were a bad influence on each other that way …

      But hey, what are friends for?

      Gareth stood outside the doorway, shaking some sand off his sandals.

      “Hey, Amos,” he called out. “Grab yourself a beer from the fridge.”

      He expected Amos to call back …

      “Already got it.”

      But no reply came. Gareth guessed that maybe Amos was back in the kitchen, just now getting a beer. Or maybe he was just crankier than usual. That was fine with Gareth …

      Misery loves company, as they say.

      Gareth opened the screen door and walked inside.

      “Hey, Amos, what’s up?” he called out.

      A flash of movement caught his peripheral vision. He turned and glimpsed a shadowy form silhouetted against the living room lamp.

      Whoever it was rushed at Gareth too fast for him to ask any questions.

      The figure raised an arm, and Gareth glimpsed a flash of steel. Something unspeakably hard crashed against his forehead, and then an explosion burst through his brain like shattering glass.

      Then there was nothing.

      CHAPTER ONE

      Morning sunlight was glistening on the waves as Samantha Kuehling drove the police car along the waterfront drive.

      Sitting next to her in the passenger seat, her partner, Dominic Wolfe, said …

      “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

      Sam didn’t reply.

      Neither she nor Dominic yet knew just what “it” really was.

      But the truth was, she pretty much believed whatever it was already.

      She’d known fourteen-year-old Wyatt Hitt all his life. He could be ornery, just like any boy that age, but he wasn’t a liar. And he’d sounded downright hysterical when he’d called the police station a little while ago. He hadn’t made much sense, but he’d been pretty clear about one thing …

      Something happened to Gareth Ogden.

      Something bad.

      Beyond that, Sam didn’t know a single thing. And Dominic didn’t either.

      As she parked the car in front of Gareth’s house, she saw that Wyatt was sitting at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the porch. Beside him was a cloth bag of undelivered newspapers.

      When Sam and Dominic got out of the car and walked over to him, the towheaded kid didn’t even look at them. He just kept staring straight ahead. Wyatt’s face was even paler than usual, and he was shivering, even though it was already getting to be a hot morning.

      He’s in shock, Sam realized.

      Dominic said to him, “Tell us what happened.”

      Wyatt sat upright at the sound of Dominic’s voice and looked back at him with glazed eyes. Then Wyatt stammered in a hoarse, frightened voice made worse by the changes of adolescence.

      “He—he’s in there, up in the house. Mr. Ogden, I mean.”

      Then he stared off toward the Gulf again.

      Sam and Dominic looked at each other.

      She could tell by Dominic’s alarmed expression that this was starting to get real for him.

      Sam shuddered as she thought …

      I’ve got a feeling it’s about to get awfully real for both of us.

      She and Dominic climbed the steps and walked across the porch. When they looked through the screen door, they saw Gareth Ogden.

      Dominic staggered backward from the door.

      “Jesus Christ!” he yelped.

      Ogden was lying on his back on the floor, his eyes and mouth wide open. He had some kind of open, bleeding wound on his forehead.

      Then Dominic wheeled back toward the stairs and yelled down at Wyatt …

      “What the hell happened? What did you do?”

      Feeling a bit surprised not to share Dominic’s panic, Sam touched his arm and quietly said, “He didn’t do anything, Dom. He’s just a kid. He’s just a paperboy.”

      Dominic shook her hand off and stormed back down the stairs. He hauled poor Wyatt to his feet.

      “Tell me!” Dominic yelled. “What did you do? Why?”

      Sam dashed down the stairs behind Dominic. She grabbed the hysterical cop and forcefully pulled him onto the lawn.

      “Leave him alone, Dom,” Sam said. “Let me handle this, OK?”

      Dominic’s face looked as pale as Wyatt’s now, and he too was shivering with shock.

      He nodded mutely, and Sam walked back over to Wyatt and helped him sit down again.

      She crouched in front of him and touched him on the shoulder.

      She said, “It’s going to be OK, Wyatt. Just take a few slow breaths.”

      Poor Wyatt couldn’t follow her instructions. Instead, he seemed to be hyperventilating and sobbing at the same time.

      Wyatt managed to choke out, “I—I came by to deliver his newspaper and I found him in there.”

      Sam squinted at Wyatt, trying to make sense of this.

      “Why did you go all the way up on Mr. Ogden’s porch?” she asked. “Couldn’t you just throw the paper up there from the yard?”

      Wyatt shrugged and said, “He gets—got mad when I do that. It made too much noise, he said, it woke him up. So he told me I had to come all the way up onto the porch—and I had to leave the paper between the screen door and the front door. Otherwise it would blow away, he said. So I always went up there and I was about to open the screen when I saw—”

      Wyatt gasped and groaned with shock for a moment, then added …

      “So I called you on my cell phone.”

      Sam patted him on the shoulder.

      “It’s going to be OK,” she said. “You did the right thing, calling the police. Now you wait right here.”

      Wyatt looked at his bag. “But these papers—I’ve still got to deliver them.”

      Poor kid, Sam thought.

      He was obviously terribly confused. On top of that, some kind of misplaced guilt seemed to be kicking in as well. Sam guessed that this was a natural reaction.

      “You don’t have to do anything,” she said. “You’re not in trouble. Everything’s going to be OK. Now just wait here, like I said.”

      She got up from the step and looked for Dominic, who was still standing dumbly in the yard with his mouth hanging open.

      Sam was starting to feel a little angry.

      Doesn’t he know he’s supposed to be a cop?

      She said to him, “Dom, come on. We’ve got to go up there and have a look at things.”

      Dom just stood there as if he were deaf and had no idea that she’d spoken.

      She spoke more sharply. “Dominic, come with me, damn it.”

      Dominic nodded dumbly, then followed her up the stairs and across the porch into the house.

      Gareth Ogden was lying spread-eagle on the floor, wearing

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